The formation of a national cuisine and cookbook is a major symbol of national identity and is a representation of a people who have established shared foodways and developed a particular culinary palate and vocabulary. But these recipes are not just dishes, they are a way of living. These recipes are not just nourishment for the body, but for the soul. Recipes can call forth an entire history of a people if one is willing to savor the stories hidden in a mouthful of plátano maduro. Food can also serve to understand the impacts of colonization, globalization, and the ebbs and flows of culture. But preparing and consuming culturally significant foods has the potential to either illuminate or obscure that history. In this study I examine culinary social practices of puertorriqueñas in relation to cultural identities, histories, and colonization. I use settler and neo-colonial theory and qualitative research methods to unearth and attend to cultural history and colonial trauma. Central to this inquiry lie the questions 1) What stories do Puerto Rican culinary traditions hold? 2) How are these culinary traditions a reflection of ethnic mestizaje and forgotten colonial wounds? 3) And what would a decolonial recetario look like? To understand these aspects of Puerto Rico’s national cuisine I turn to cookbooks, recipe videos, and Puerto Rican women. Although they are vital to the continuity of these cultural practices there is a scarcity of literature exploring how women perform cultural stewardship through food.

This dissertation explores contemporary Chicanx/Latinx art and cultural production in Phoenix, Arizona and its role in shaping and asserting a cultural identity and experience that is unique to this area of the southwestern United States. I examine the work of three female creatives spanning three generations who have used their art to represent, mitigate, and embody their experiences as Chicanx/Latinx subjects living in the Borderlands: Stella Pope Duarte (b. 1948), Lucinda Y Hinojos (La Morena) (b. 1981), and Annie Lopez (b. 1958). Through an examination of their artistic production traversing various media, including literature, urban art, and photography, I seek to show how they embrace the aesthetic activism and ideals of the Chicano Art Movement set within a contemporary context, while dialoguing with the local and global discourses that inform their realities. The theoretical framework I employ is grounded in principles surrounding body-space-place, specifically the notions of Somaesthetics (Shusterman 1996), Barriology-Barrioization (Villa 2000), and Thirdspace (Soja 1996). These theories are contextualized within the framework of borderland theory and Chicanx feminism, utilizing borderland spaces as a trope to combat traditional power structures and dichotomies while exploring the complexity and fluidity of transborder identities. I maintain that their work has contributed to Phoenix’s social and material landscapes through the articulation of a space/place-specific, hybrid Borderland identity grounded in the social, ecological, and physical realities of life in the “Valley of the Sun.” This dissertation seeks to demonstrate that their artistic expressions contribute to uniting and empowering the Chicanx/Latinx community through the definition of a Latinx space that is both physical and imaginary, allowing for self-representation, cultural affirmation, and collective healing. Overall, this dissertation contributes to an urgent gap in academic research surrounding Chicanx/Latinx cultural and artistic production in Phoenix. I hope to honor the presence and contributions of a long-established community and stimulate further investigation on this topic, proving that there is something worth talking about here in Phoenix.

Imagine, after enjoying 40 years with a person you love, and promise to live with ‘till death do us part,’ you are taxed over $360,000 upon the death of your spouse. Edith Windsor, who was legally married experienced discriminatory tax treatment simply because her spouse was a woman. On June 26, 2013 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional violating the 5th and 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The ruling eliminated this discriminatory tax policy and the conflict of filing federal and state income taxes in states recognizing same-sex marriage. It did create a new conflict with the states that do not recognize these marriages. GayTaxGuide.com is an authoritative tool to verify the current legal standing for same-sex marriage in every state of the U.S. Visitors will find links to official state tax agencies, state income tax forms including official guidance for the public in completing state income tax returns for same-sex married taxpayers. Reading the paper component of this thesis will inform you of U.S. history of taxation and same-sex marriage dating back to the 1st century. Census data and Gallup® survey results pertaining to LGBT topics are presented along with an account of my research process. This project serves the public in untangling state income tax policy for same-sex married couples with up to date primary sources in an easy to navigate format.